Voting is officially over and the 2011 winner of the AMP People’s Choice Award is Johann Landkroon whose thing is Taekwondo World Championships.

The 13th annual AMP Scholarship programme saw a record breaking 1279 applications successfully submitted, but only one could receive the coveted $10,000 People’s Choice Award as nominated by public vote at www.doyourthing.co.nz.

That one is Hastings-local, nineteen-year-old Johann Landkroon, who took the lead right from the beginning of the voting process. In total, 94,822 people from 160 countries cast their vote.
Johann will contribute the $10,000 he’s been awarded by AMP towards airfares and visas for his family so that they can travel with him to North Korea for the World Taekwondo Championships in September.

Peggy Landkroon, Johann’s mother, is absolutely thrilled that the hard work put into campaigning for votes has paid off. “The support for Johann throughout this campaign has been very heart-warming. So many people wanted this for Johann and we couldn’t have achieved this result without the help of our community and some very supportive campaigners in Auckland. We campaigned wherever we could think of, and we are just so thankful for the internet which made it easy for us to spread the word about voting,” she says.

Johann will be the first special needs student to ever perform taekwondo patterns for the sport’s world governing body.

“Johann can’t wait to go to Korea and show the world what special needs people can do,” Peggy concludes.

Blair Vernon, AMP General Manager, was overwhelmed by the volume and quality of applicants this year and is impressed at how many Kiwis chose to take part in the people’s choice voting process.

“AMP gave Kiwis the responsibility to help us celebrate our talent by voting for the applicant who they think is most deserving of the People’s Choice Award,” he says.

“We are 100% satisfied and happy with the choice that the nation has made. Johann completely embodies the passion and spirit that AMP wishes to evoke, and we are honoured to help him achieve his dream,” concludes Vernon.

To date, the AMP Scholarships Programme has awarded more than $1.2 million worth of scholarships to 112 Kiwis who have been doing great things. 2011 People’s Choice runners-up include Craig Miller whose thing is wrestling, Marlena Tifaimoana Devoe whose thing is opera and Paula Mitchell whose thing is snowboarding.